ABU DHABI // A killer who bludgeoned his colleague to death with a meat hammer should be executed for the benefit of the dead man's twin daughters, a court heard today.
The dead man's father told the Appeals Court that following a week's negotiation his family had decided against forgiving the killer and accepting blood money.
"My son had two six-year-old twins, it is their right to see the killer of their father killed," said the father, who added that the family was financially stable and in no need of the blood money.
"We are capable of raising the girls," said the father. "He killed their father so he should die too."
The killer, NM, from India, admitted murder, saying the man would bully him in front of co-workers at the diesel company at which they were employed. He said there had been a disagreement between them when they were transferring diesel from the capital to Sharjah. As they were siphoning it out of the tanker, some of it spilt on the ground. NM said the dead man blamed him and hit him with a shoe. When he complained to their colleagues, one of them suggested he "find a way to stop" him.
About a month later the killer waited until his roommates were asleep before going to the kitchen and taking a meat hammer. He then returned and hit the man below his ear twice. When the man turned over he began to hit him on the neck. The other roommates woke up from the screams and tried to stop him, but the killer then ran back to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed himself in the stomach in an attempt to commit suicide. However, the knife was blunt and the wound only minor. He then threatened his roommates saying if they did not leave he would stab himself again. They then left and called police, but the killer stabbed himself again anyway, ripping open his stomach.
Police arrived and saved his life.
The criminal court sentenced him to death, as well as a year in jail for taking narcotics and two months in jail for attempting suicide, with the death sentence to take precedent.
All death sentences are automatically subject to appeal. The appeal court did not set a date for its verdict.
hdajani@thenational.ae
